Saturday, November 5, 2016

Playa is one of those places where you find
yourself in the middle of something special every day, and autumn is no
exception. The fall holidays of “Halloween” celebrated on October
31st in North American and the Mexican “Día de Muertos” on November 1st
have much more in common than you might think. Both are major
celebrations in Playa del Carmen, with some very interesting shared aspects.

What they have in
common

Halloween is a shorted form of the event, All
Hallows Evening. It is widely believed that this holiday comes from Celtic
harvest festivals and was later Christianized as Halloween.
In the U.S. and México, Halloween is a night of celebration,
costumes, trick-or-treating and parties. In other parts of the world, Christian
communities celebrate Halloween by attending church, lighting candles by the
graves of their dead and eating certain food on this vigil day.
Although Halloween is a more commercial and secular celebration in
North America, its roots are very similar to the ones from the Mexican holiday.

Día de Muertos is a Mexican celebration that
dates from ancient pre-Columbian cultures. The festival known today as Día de
Muertos fell in the 9th month of the Aztec calendar, about the
beginning of august and was celebrated for an entire month. The
celebrations were dedicated to the goddess “The Lady of the Dead”
(Mictecacihuatl) known today as “La Catrina”. After the
colonization, gradually the dates were moved to November 1st and 2nd
to coincide with Western Christian triduum of All Hallow Tide.

Mexican traditions during this holiday
include visiting the grave sites of loved ones, decorating them with flowers,
and setting up altars to their deceased loves one with offerings like food,
candles, flowers, candies and music. Usually the offerings are based on
the favorite foods that the deceased person once loved.

The altar itself has a purpose and a deep
meaning as it represents the travel of the deceased to the land of the living
for one day. The offerings are usually the same you would give a loved one
visiting your house. Some items include things such as a figure of
a dog to keep the deceased company on his/her way back to the land of the dead.

Playa is keeping up
with the Holidays

On vacation one thing you know for sure
you’ll take back home is a great experience. Playa lives up to its
potential and this year was no different. The Halloween celebrations went
through the roof last Monday. The worldwide famous 5th Avenue
was filled with thousands of tourists and residents wearing their best
costumes.

Every year the streets are filled early in
the evening with kids and their parents trick-or-treating, taking pictures and
admiring all the amazing costumes parading through 5th Avenue.
Late in the evening the adult costume parade begins and the party
starts. Every night club hosts special parties with amazing decorations,
costume contests with great prizes and incredible shows. Weekend is just
a word with no meaning in Playa, so it doesn’t matter if it’s Monday or Friday,
the party goes on all night and you can see costumes in several stages of
decay.

As Halloween goes by Día de Muertos is ready
to take over the holidays with very special and incredible celebrations.
The best theme park in the Mexican Caribbean, Xcaret, hosts a
great event called Festival de Vida y Muerte from October 30th
to November 2nd. This special event is an extreme
cultural experience with music, performances, decoration, special effects and
history. Famous national singers perform at this special ceremony to
honor the death.

Xcaret is celebrating its 25th
anniversary and this year’s celebration will be very special. 5th
avenue is decorated with Catrina, flowers and perforated paper, special food is
offered in several restaurants such as pan de muerto, calaveritas de azucar and
many other traditional dishes for the day.

So now you know whether you are looking for
a costume party or an intense cultural experience, Playa has it for you.
Playa is a cosmopolitan place with residents from all around the globe.
This gorgeous city by the sea is embracing several worldwide holidays and we
are loving it. We have our eyes set for this year’s Thanksgiving and we are
sure it’s going to be great!